In 1956, Richard Matheson's novel,
The Shrinking Man, was published. A year later the book was adapted to film as
The Incredible Shrinking Man, and again in 1981 for
The Incredible Shrinking Woman. The 1957 film was directed by Jack Arnold, and starred Grant Williams.
Fast forward to now, and MGM has acquired the rights to Richard Matheson's
The Shrinking Man. What's most interesting is that Matheson (87 years-old) and his son, Richard Matheson Jr., will be writing the screenplay. While the film will receive a modern take, the tone will stay the same as the original - bleak.
Richard Matheson is a legend in the science-fiction community as he contributed to Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone," wrote the novel
I Am Legend, and one of Steven Spielberg's most intense films,
Duel.
Describing the new iteration as “an existential action movie,” the elder Matheson says, “My original story was a metaphor for how man’s place in the world was diminishing. That still holds today, where all these advancements that are going to save us will be our undoing.”
His son, Richard Christian Matheson, is no stranger to writing as he inherited the gift from his dad. He has wrote several episodes of "Masters Of Horror" as well as high school comedy, "Three O'Clock High."
Original Plot (1956) - While on holiday, the protagonist (Scott Carey) is exposed to a cloud of radioactive spray shortly after he accidentally ingests insecticide. The radioactivity acts as a catalyst for the bug spray, causing his body to shrink at a rate of approximately 1/7 of an inch per day. A few weeks later, Carey can no longer deny the truth: not only is he losing weight, he is also shorter than he was and deduces, to his dismay, that his body will continue to shrink. - Wikipedia